"No, Edwin, you must not say anything more to me about these things. I'm satisfied to let well enough alone; and if I'm contented, you ought to be."
Seeing that his mother was determined to continue in her uncertainty, Edwin next thought of his own brother and sister in the flesh, whom he had never seen. Through his mother he had found out where they were living, and although it was a long distance to their homes and they were as strangers to him, he decided to visit them and at once set out upon the journey.
The brother had heard through the mother some things about Edwin's stupidity, as she called his extreme ignorance (for which she was herself to blame), and he had also heard of Edwin's willingness to suffer cruel punishments and unjust blame. "But," the mother had also said, "with all his block-headedness, he has never done anything to compare with what Elmer, his cousin, has done to make me ashamed."
It was therefore with real interest and curiosity that the brother received him into his home, and he was shown much kindness by his brother's wife. When Edwin explained how wondrously he had been led and taught of God, the brother was astonished, for he could see that all Edwin had said was very reasonable and sensible, and he wondered why he had never thought to search out some of the things for himself. The brother's wife as well was greatly interested, and when Edwin read and explained the verses from his well-marked Bible, they were both convicted and exclaimed:
"O Edwin! what must we do to get this great salvation?"
Immediately Edwin turned to Acts 16: 30, 31, and read the jailer's words to Paul and Silas, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" and Paul's answer, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shall be saved, and thy house." He then explained that Jesus came to seek and save the people from their sins and that he went about preaching the glad tidings of salvation, after which he gave his life upon the cross that their salvation might be possible.
Next he read Isa. 55: 6, 7: "Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon."
"To forsake sin," Edwin explained, "is to stop doing anything that one knows to be wrong, like stealing, lying, swearing," and he named over a number of other things. "By the power of the will it is possible for any who have formed such habits to stop doing the things that are wrong, but before a person can really be delivered from sin, he must be very sorry for having disobeyed God. That sorrow is repentance if the person is sorry enough to ask God to forgive him and to cleanse him from all unrighteousness."
Edwin did not tell them that it had always been his desire to do to others as he would be done by, for to him this had been only his privilege and duty to mankind, and he fully realized that before he was converted he was, with all the rest of humanity, in a sense separated from God. Instead he said:
"You must think of God's goodness," and he read: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest to your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light." And then he read Heb. 10:39: "But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul."